SANA'A: In the wake of Yemen's presidential elections and what many officials hope to be Yemen's transition towards stability, the United States is unveiling its military plan for Yemen as it seeks to enroll the army in its fight against terrorism. Ever since the beginning of the popular uprising that began in February 2011, the Pentagon has worked at guaranteeing that Yemen's next government would continue its counter-terrorism partnership, allowing the US the same military and intelligence leeway President Ali Abdullah Saleh had agreed to. US ambassador to Yemen Gerard Feierstein made the matter extremely clear when he announced in an interview to the press that his country had been put in charge of the military restructuring of the Yemeni armed forces since it held the key to stability in the region, adding that he was “determined to see the reshuffling through, according to America's interests.” Many political and security analysts raised some concerns over the ambitious American plan as they fear it could prompt further instability rather than prevent it. Most generals in Yemen and other high-ranking officers are more often than not loyal to a specific political faction or a tribe rather than the Defense Ministry, posing the problem of internal dissensions. “Any time the US gets into where it's favoring certain generals or trying to play generals off each other, it is a very dangerous game,” said Gregory Johnsen, a Princeton scholar who closely tracks militants in Yemen. Moreover, the matter of Saleh's family members remains at the center of the polemic, with revolutionaries wondering whether the new government will make do on its promises and the terms of the GCC brokered power-transfer agreement by dismissing them from their strategic positions. Several revolutionary leaders warned that a rumored deal between Saleh and the US provisioned for Saleh to remain at the head of the Republican Guards and the Special Forces, as well as to keep on board Ammar Mohamed Saleh, a nephew working for the National Security Agency and Mohamed Saleh, the former President's half-brother as the commander of the air force. With tensions rising in the Middle East in between Iran and the state of Israel, Yemen has become a key element in the region's geo-political map, with the Pentagon pushing for control. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/qSTNc Tags: Military, Saleh, Transition, United States Section: Latest News, North America, Yemen
